To celebrate the first 50 years of the Internet, CyberLabs has launched the Oral History of the Internet (OHI), recording and preserving the personal narratives of global Internet Pioneers’ extraordinary contribution to the internet development. By 2024, OHI should have interviewed 500 Internet Pioneers around the world. A 50-episode TV series, documentaries and books will be produced based on the video interviews. The OHI, which started first in China in 2007, has interviewed nearly 200 Internet Pioneers who mostly come from Asia, Europe and the United States. The OHI will also go to interview those from Africa, Mid-East and Oceania.

The mission of OHI is “Recording the first 50 years of the internet so to embrace its next 50 years”.

The OHI will thus build a virtual monument that is committed to documenting personal narratives from the Internet Pioneers who have made extraordinary contributions to the development of the internet around the world. OHI was launched by CyberLabs, a think tank devoted to recording and preserving the internet history, which has started the project first in China since 2007. As the internet is facilitating unprecedented, multi-faceted interactions around the world, OHI goes global by video recording oral testimonies from the worldwide Internet Pioneers about their extraordinary contributions to the development of the internet in their own countries or fields.

http://cyberlabs.org/

• International

OHI records and preserves diverse historical perspectives of the internet history from global Internet Pioneers in the hope of advocating the collaborative effort of building up the internet. The oral history produced could be used as a powerful tool for bridging divides, improving engagement, and facilitating historical understanding in terms of internet governance, policy making, and cybersecurity. OHI thus welcomes individuals and institutions who share the values of creating and preserving the oral history of the internet to join us to in promoting excellence in the collection, preservation, dissemination and uses of the oral testimonies for current and future users. In this sense, OHI should help foster better communication among global communities who are increasingly interact on the internet.